Help with holding prime
#1
06-02-05, 07:47 PM
Help with holding prime
I have a shallow well pump, about 20 feet deep, model 1/2 hp ace brand. I can run if for about 1 hour, but then I loose my prime. I have replaced my check valve twice, and my pump is only 1 year old. I don't know what a foot valve is, or where it is located. Do all pumps have a foot valve. I have a 20/40 pressure switch. I pressurize my tank with 18lbs of pressure before filling. Is this the correct procedure, or could this be why I am loosing my prime? I have also replace the inner parts of my toilets incase that was causing the problem. But I still loose my prime.
Help
eagle1528
Help
eagle1528
#2
06-03-05, 06:33 AM
It sounds to me like that after an hour of running the water level in the well (or whatever the supply is) is too low and the pump starves for water. Does this happen every time you run the pump for an hour?
The air pressure in the tank is correct.
The footvalve is a checkvalve that is installed on the very end of the suction line in the well. It keeps the whole line full of water to keep the pump primed.
Ron
The air pressure in the tank is correct.
The footvalve is a checkvalve that is installed on the very end of the suction line in the well. It keeps the whole line full of water to keep the pump primed.
Ron
#4
06-04-05, 10:20 PM
The purpose of the checkvalve is the same as the footvalve. If you picture your well as a straw in a glass of iced tea, your finger is the check valve. If you hold your finger on the top of the straw and lift it out, the tea stays in the straw. That is the check valve next to your pump. If you put your finger on the bottom of the straw, (assuming your hand is small enough) that is representative to a foot valve. In either case the water is kept in the line from the water level to the pump, retaining your prime. Usually you have one or the other. If you have both, though it is not a bad thing.
What Ron is saying is true: If your well is only 20 feet deep, depending on the soil type, you could be drawing down water after an hour so as to be starving the well for water, and introducing air into the system. Pump sucking air=losing prime. Does it recover and reprime if you let it sit for an hour or so then turn it back on?
What Ron is saying is true: If your well is only 20 feet deep, depending on the soil type, you could be drawing down water after an hour so as to be starving the well for water, and introducing air into the system. Pump sucking air=losing prime. Does it recover and reprime if you let it sit for an hour or so then turn it back on?
#5
06-05-05, 12:12 PM
pump run for hour then looses prime
Here is exactly how it acts. I can prime the pump and get water. The pump will continue to give water if I am washing my hands or doing normal things. However if I flush the toliet I loose water. I can reprime the pump with no problem every time this happens. I did loose water once while I was taking a shower. My wife had taken a shower a few minutes before me and did not loose water. This house is across the street from a lake and the soil is all sand. I believe the well at 20 feet is just below the level of the near by lake.
Thanks for your help.
Mike
Thanks for your help.
Mike
